House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said Thursday he would temporarily remove himself from his panel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, amid growing concerns over his independence and a new House Ethics Committee probe into his handling of it.

In a statement, Nunes said he was stepping down due to accusations have been filed against him with the Office of Congressional Ethics regarding the way he had conducted the investigation.

“The charges are entirely false and politically motivated, and are being leveled just as the American people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of the identities of U.S. citizens and other abuses of power,” Nunes said.

The House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation will now be led Reps. Mike Conaway (R-Tex.), Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), Nunes said.

In recent weeks, calls for Nunes to step aside from the probe had grown amid a series of eyebrow-raising missteps by the California Republican, who had also been a member of President Trump’s transition team.

Last month, Nunes — whose panel is also probing whether anyone on Trump’s campaign or transition team coordinated meddling efforts with Moscow — briefed Trump on information regarding surveillance, without revealing the information to his own fellow panel members.

Nunes then decided to cancel a week’s worth of scheduled public hearings.

He also admitted he had acquired the intelligence that he’d revealed to Trump during an under-the-radar visit to the White House grounds just one day before briefing the President about it.

Those developments added to questions over whether it was someone at the White House who fed Nunes information over the developments and sparked further concerns over the independence of the panel’s investigation.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said Thursday he will step aside from his panel’s Russia probe.

(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

On Thursday, the House Ethics Committee confirmed it would investigate Nunes’ handling of his own probe, including whether he revealed any classified information.

“The committee is aware of public allegations that Rep. Devin Nunes may have made unauthorized disclosures of classified information, in violation of House rules, law, regulation, or other standards of conduct,” the panel’s chairwoman and ranking member, Reps. Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) said in a statement. “The Committee has determined to investigate these allegations in order to fulfill its institutional obligation.”

Trump, in brief remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One, called Nunes an “honorable guy,” and denied that Nunes had shared classified information with him.